HOH Top 40 Stanley Cup Playoff Performers of All Time

[quoipourquoi]

The following is the final list of the top Stanley Cup playoff performers as determined by the History of Hockey community.

Report any errors to quoipourquoi.

Top Stanley Cup Playoff Performers of All-Time

		Pos.	Born	Nationality	First Playoff	Last Playoff	St. Cups	OT P/W
1	Wayne Gretzky	C1	1961	Canada	1980	1997	4
2	Patrick Roy	G1	1965	Canada	1986	2003	4
3	Maurice Richard	W1	1921	Canada	1944	1960	8
4	Jean Beliveau	C2	1931	Canada	1954	1971	10
5	Gordie Howe	W2	1928	Canada	1947	1980	4
6	Doug Harvey	D1	1924	Canada	1949	1968	6
7	Mark Messier	C3	1961	Canada	1980	1997	6
8	Jacques Plante	G2	1929	Canada	1953	1973	6
9	Ted Kennedy	C4	1925	Canada	1944	1955	5
10	Denis Potvin	D2	1953	Canada	1975	1988	4
11	Mario Lemieux	C5	1965	Canada	1989	2001	2
12	Joe Sakic	C6	1969	Canada	1993	2008	2
13	Bobby Orr	D3	1948	Canada	1968	1975	2
14	Red Kelly	D4	1927	Canada	1948	1967	8
15	Guy Lafleur	W3	1951	Canada	1972	1989	5
16	Frank Nighbor	C7	1893	Canada	1915	1928	4
17	Turk Broda	G3	1914	Canada	1937	1952	5
18	Peter Forsberg	C8	1973	Sweden	1995	2008	2
19	Henri Richard	C9	1936	Canada	1956	1975	11
20	Mike Bossy	W4		Canada
21	Larry Robinson	D5		Canada
22	Ken Dryden	G4		Canada
23	Nicklas Lidstrom	D6		Sweden
24	Bryan Trottier	C10		Canada
25	Bernie Geoffrion	W5		Canada
26	Doug Gilmour	C11		Canada
27	Serge Savard	D7		Canada
28	Sidney Crosby	C12		Canada
29	Phil Esposito	C13		Canada
30	Frank Boucher	C14		Canada
31	Bobby Hull	W6		Canada
32	Chris Pronger	D8		Canada
33	Jari Kurri	W7		Finland
34	Sergei Fedorov	C15		Russia
35	Martin Brodeur	G5		Canada
36	Scott Stevens	D9		Canada
37	Jacques Lemaire	W8		Canada
38	Duncan Keith	D10		Canada
39	Billy Smith	G6		Canada
40	Frank Foyston	C16		Canada

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Discussion Threads
Round 2 - Voting Results
Round 2 - Vote 1 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 2 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 3 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 4 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 5 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 6 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 7 Discussion
Round 2 - Vote 8 Discussion

Preliminary Discussion Threads
Rules Discussion Thread
Preliminary Discussion Thread

Round 1 Process
Round 1 Voting Results and Screening Process (Aggregate List)
Participant Survey

Individual Voting Records
BenchBrawl
Black Gold Extractor
blogofmike
bobholly39
Canadiens1958
drmagg
Johnny Engine
Kyle McMahon
Mike Farkas
MXD
quoipourquoi
seventieslord
TheGeneral
Open Ballots

Click to read more...

 

[Sentinel]

IMO Harvey and Plante are overrated, and Lafleur is underrated. This list makes it sound like 70s Habs are an afterthought. I just don't see how he is below Orr and Lemieux in playoff performance.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

IMO Harvey and Plante are overrated, and Lafleur is underrated. This list makes it sound like 70s Habs are an afterthought. I just don't see how he is below Orr and Lemieux in playoff performance.

The clock might have just struck midnight because I completely 100% agree with a Sentinel post.

 

[quoipourquoi]

I had Ken Dryden higher than Plante too. Where it becomes an issue is that the players from the 1956-1960 Canadiens dynasty had pretty good showings both before and after the dynasty - something that can't be said for Lafleur outside of his five-season run. It's a small window for the two big stars of what I believe to be a better team: the 1970s Canadiens.

And despite not playing for a dynasty, Lemieux's five best playoffs (minimum two rounds) were still statistically superior even when factoring in the weaker defensive opposition Lemieux faced. And Lemieux holds up better beyond those five too.

I think some of the voting has been beneficial to players with fewer minuses. Lafleur had a pretty big one called the 1980s.

 

[MXD]

There's probably no point in bringing Broda into this, and I might sound like I'm harping on Ted Kennedy (I'd probably have him just a few spots lower than the group), but I think we screwed up when concluding he, as opposed to Red Kelly, was the best O-6 Non-Howe, Non-Hab.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Gordie Howe

There's probably no point in bringing Broda into this, and I might sound like I'm harping on Ted Kennedy (I'd probably have him just a few spots lower than the group), but I think we screwed up when concluding he, as opposed to Red Kelly, was the best O-6 Non-Hab.

So Gordie Howe is not an O6 non - Hab?

 

[Epsilon]

Joe Sakic is the one name that stands out to me as a bit overrated on here, although subsequent votes will do a lot to determine by how much. Should there really be a big separation between him and the other top 4-5 position players of the same era (Forsberg, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Stevens, Yzerman)? Not saying there will be, but there could be depending on how the next 1-2 rounds go. But something about him ahead of the 4 names right underneath him doesn't quite strike me as right.

 

[tarheelhockey]

15 Canadians, all born within a 48-year window.

I'm not saying this proves anything wrong, but it's a strikingly narrow demographic.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I think it makes more sense here than anywhere...while I am one of the first to go to bat for DOB-bias, the playoffs are a different playing field. I don't equate playing in a four-round, best of 7 atmosphere and playing in a two-game total goals series...I did value more modern players in this regard, in this setting...

There's also a logical point to be made about players from dynasties featuring high on the list...it's a "best playoff guy" list...naturally, I'd start my focus on teams that won a bunch of stuff...

 

[quoipourquoi]

Joe Sakic is the one name that stands out to me as a bit overrated on here, although subsequent votes will do a lot to determine by how much. Should there really be a big separation between him and the other top 4-5 position players of the same era (Forsberg, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Stevens, Yzerman)? Not saying there will be, but there could be depending on how the next 1-2 rounds go. But something about him ahead of the 4 names right underneath him doesn't quite strike me as right.

I don't think there will be separation, but somewhere after finding out he scored 13 game-winning points on his teams' 25 overtime wins (Maurice Richard was next of the eligible players at the time with 7 points), he started to look better than I anticipated. I didn't have him as the best of his era though.

O6 heavy at the start, no doubt. I think a lot of us were looking at different O6 players which caused so many to get in. I don't think we should be hesitant to throw in another right away (Broda) if it's warranted.

 

[danincanada]

I don't think there will be separation, but somewhere after finding out he scored 13 game-winning points on his teams' 25 overtime wins (Maurice Richard was next of the eligible players at the time with 7 points), he started to look better than I anticipated. I didn't have him as the best of his era though.

O6 heavy at the start, no doubt. I think a lot of us were looking at different O6 players which caused so many to get in. I don't think we should be hesitant to throw in another right away (Broda) if it's warranted.

Where are you finding the game winning point statistics?

 

[quoipourquoi]

Where are you finding the game winning point statistics?

Box scores. It's a pain (which is why I add as we go as opposed to having a pre-loaded list), but I'm hoping we'll have a pretty good resource at the end of the project.

 

[GuineaPig]

15 Canadians, all born within a 48-year window.

I'm not saying this proves anything wrong, but it's a strikingly narrow demographic.

My first impression as well. Seems like a list Don Cherry would come up with.

 

[danincanada]

Box scores. It's a pain (which is why I add as we go as opposed to having a pre-loaded list), but I'm hoping we'll have a pretty good resource at the end of the project.

Thanks, I was wondering because I've never seen those anywhere.

 

[quoipourquoi]

My first impression as well. Seems like a list Don Cherry would come up with.

Peter Forsberg finished immediately behind Guy Lafleur, the most recent addition. Now I would have no problem if Forsberg was #15 instead of where he'll probably land (#16-20), but I don't think it takes Don Cherry to put Lafleur over Forsberg.

 

[BraveCanadian]

IMO Harvey and Plante are overrated, and Lafleur is underrated. This list makes it sound like 70s Habs are an afterthought. I just don't see how he is below Orr and Lemieux in playoff performance.

Kind of agree on this one.. as well as Sakic being overrated.. as awesome as he was..

Wait until you see where the rest of the 80s Isles trio are shaping up be..

 

[MXD]

My first impression as well. Seems like a list Don Cherry would come up with.

....5 out of the Top 10 are Québecois, 5 out the Top 10 are French Canadians and 5 out of the Top 10 are associated with the Montreal Canadiens, and there are actually players ahead of Bobby Orr.

Yep, totally something Don Cherry would come up with.

 

[Black Gold Extractor]

15 Canadians, all born within a 48-year window.

I'm not saying this proves anything wrong, but it's a strikingly narrow demographic.

Perhaps, but it is important to note that the NHL is only 100 years old. The O6 era to now is just 75 years.

Additionally, active players will inherently be at a disadvantage since they're only half done, so to speak. (If Malkin, hypothetically, continues his torrid pace and wins a Conn Smythe in a hypothetical Penguins Cup win later this year, he suspect that he would jump up the rankings quite a bit.) This shortens the effective window for this project, so to speak, by maybe ten years to only ~65 years.

Furthermore, the European influx really only took off in the 90's which further reduces the window.

As for the rankings, I look at them in terms of blocks rather than exact rankings. #1-6 were basically locks, no matter what order one has them in. #7-10 (if we switch Red Kelly and Ted Kennedy... ) were guys who were big-game performers for many years without the insane levels shown by #1-6. #11-15 (again with the switched Ted Kennedy) were guys who were great/insane for two or three post-seasons and respectable otherwise for a few more years.

 

[MXD]

Also, lots of Dynasties players, and the Dynasties era coincides roughly with the End of WWII and ends up straigh with the Oilers Dynasty (or the Gretzky trade, YMMV).

The league was very Canadian : amongst older players than Richard, the best non-Canadian player was... Frank Brimsek? And he held that title (if we keep it to the NHL) for... well, technically longer than that, but Chris Chelios first shown signs he could end up passing him, well, right at the end of the period mentionned above.

And I doubt anyone considered Brimsek for this.

The league started to decanadianize right when the dynasties went the way of the dodo. Of course the best players would be Canadians...

 

[The Panther]

Here they are, standing in order -- Gretzky, Roy, and Richard:

 

[VanIslander]

That's not an "all-time" list guys.

 

[quoipourquoi]

That's not an "all-time" list guys.

Frank Nighbor finished two spots out from Lafleur in the most recent vote. The great thing is that we're accepting open ballots to be more accommodating to people who didn't have time to make Round 1 lists. You're welcome to vote for whichever players you feel check off all the boxes: nationality, pre-O6, post-DPE, etc.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Joe Sakic is the one name that stands out to me as a bit overrated on here, although subsequent votes will do a lot to determine by how much. Should there really be a big separation between him and the other top 4-5 position players of the same era (Forsberg, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Stevens, Yzerman)? Not saying there will be, but there could be depending on how the next 1-2 rounds go. But something about him ahead of the 4 names right underneath him doesn't quite strike me as right.

I agree, Sakic is the one name I just don't quite get the love for. I think some voters really value the OT scoring, and fair enough, but yeah out of him and those 5 other contemporaries you listed I think I had him ranked fifth on my initial list.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Sakic's voting record last vote was really interesting. No 1st place votes, but two 2nds, two 3rds, two 4ths, two 5ths, and one unranked.

Seems like almost everyone thought #12-15 is where he belongs, but no one could agree on which names should have appeared above him, which led to everyone thinking he was overrated because he landed above at least one or two players on each of our lists that seemed like they should have been ahead.

That there is such a strong consensus that Sakic is awesome is probably to his credit.

 

[GuineaPig]

Peter Forsberg finished immediately behind Guy Lafleur, the most recent addition. Now I would have no problem if Forsberg was #15 instead of where he'll probably land (#16-20), but I don't think it takes Don Cherry to put Lafleur over Forsberg.

I'm not saying the list is wrong per se (I didn't participate, so I don't really have the right to throw rocks), just that it was my immediate impression.